As I’ve been slowly ditching Windows and moving to Linux completely, one thing I really wanted was a file manager that felt great to use. I started off with the default options in most distros, usually Dolphin on KDE. It was definitely an upgrade from File Explorer, but it still felt just okay, and I kept wanting something more.
Eventually, I did find what I was looking for, and I think I’ve finally found the perfect fit for me.
Yazi is quite literally your traditional file manager
The old ways are sometimes better
I’ve been slowly replacing a lot of my bloated apps with terminal-based alternatives, mainly because they just work faster and don’t have the bloat of most Electron apps these days. I even turned my terminal into a full IDE recently. While doing that, I started wondering: why not run my file manager inside the terminal too? That’s when I came across Yazi.
Yazi doesn’t follow the “app window with buttons and menus” formula you’d expect from a file manager. Instead, it runs entirely inside your terminal. And I know that sounds intimidating at first, especially if you associate the terminal with developers and tinkerers.
But I would go as far as to say Yazi is actually way easier to use than File Explorer, even though it runs entirely inside a terminal window. You don’t need to be a CLI expert, and you don’t even need to memorize archaic commands to use it.
Instead of choosing between a full-blown clunky GUI or a terminal tool where you have to type commands for everything, Yazi sits in a really nice middle ground. It uses a TUI (text-based user interface) and basically gives you the best of both worlds.
It’s worth noting that Yazi is still in public beta. I haven’t run into any issues, and it’s been perfectly fine as a daily driver for me, but your experience might be different.
It’s simply better than File Explorer in every meaningful way
No, I do not want OneDrive and Copilot shoved everywhere
I’ve had my fair share of issues with File Explorer, and one thing that annoys me to no end is how tightly it’s tied to the rest of Windows. If the process decides to crash, it basically brings everything to a halt, including the UI, which just doesn’t make sense.
Yazi just doesn’t work like that. It runs asynchronously, which basically means one slow or stuck action can’t freeze the entire app. Everything runs on its own track, so if something hangs, the rest of Yazi keeps working normally (or vice versa).
On Windows, you might have noticed that if you scroll through a long list of files, the preview pane usually flashes a default thumbnail first and then loads the real preview a second or two later, which is annoying at the highest possible level. Yazi’s preview, on the other hand, loads immediately and doesn’t flicker around.
It also isn’t really a compromise by any means, since it supports pretty much all file formats in the preview pane, and it even has proper syntax highlighting when previewing code!
Search is another area where Yazi completely outclasses Explorer. You can integrate it with tools like fzf, so you get instant fuzzy search, quick filtering, and the ability to jump straight to files as you type.
On top of that, Yazi is super easy to make your own. You can change the theme, adjust the key bindings, and tweak the general vibe of it however you like. Nothing really limits you.
And since it’s open-source, it also supports plugins, obviously (although the feature is still in beta), so you can keep adding extra cool features on top, such as a plugin for enabling Git integration within Yazi.
I am faster than ever with Yazi
Keyboard > mouse
One of my personal “tech philosophies” is that you can get things done way faster if you stick to the keyboard, and the mouse usually just slows you down. Of course, that’s not always practical anymore, since most apps are built around mouse input, but Yazi sticks to that old-school terminal mindset. If you want to, you can do absolutely everything with just the keyboard.
Yazi has shortcuts for everything, and they’re all simple enough to remember after a day or two. For example, you use h, j, k, and l to move around (or you can use the arrow keys as well). Similarly, Space lets you select multiple files instantly. O opens a file, r renames, d deletes, and t pops a new tab open right away. Then, you can switch between those tabs by hitting their corresponding number keys.
You don’t need to figure out what a vague icon might do, like in File Explorer. You just need to press a key, and you’re done.
Searching is even better: you can hit z to run a fast filename search via fzf, or you can also hit s to run a search powered by fd, and obviously, Windows Search doesn’t even come close, since Microsoft actually wants us to stop caring about local files and shift everything to their bloated cloud.
Once this stuff gets into your muscle memory, you move through your files way faster than any GUI file manager allows.
Try it, but take your time
While there are some tools that make File Explorer more bearable, I think Yazi is still the better choice. Before you try it yourself, just don’t expect to be fully comfortable with it one day. There is a learning curve, and if you jump into it too fast, you’ll probably get frustrated and give up. The better approach is to use it alongside your main file manager for a bit and build it up slowly.
Yazi has definitely pushed me even further towards replacing most of my apps with terminal alternatives, and a browser is the only thing I haven’t managed to replace yet. But at this point, who knows? A while ago, I didn’t think I’d ever use a terminal file manager either.